1. Field
This disclosure relates to marketing, online marketing, marketing success evaluation, online information management and monitoring, marketing research, competitive information, customer communications and merchant rating and review monitoring.
2. Description of the Related Art
Merchants of all kinds have been marketing themselves—their products, services and offerings—for many years. Newspaper ads, yellow pages ads, coupons and billboards are just a few of the ways merchants have promoted themselves. With the advent of the Internet, the World Wide Web and the ability for consumers to access, consume and even contribute information to a large audience, new avenues for marketing were born. Specialized rating and review websites were born, such as YELP, TRIPADVISOR.COM and OPENTABLE.COM. And traditional directories were born anew as YP.COM and YELLOW PAGES.COM. These are only just a few of the national reaching websites. Local review websites are also popular. Newspapers and magazines also provide a forum for consumer comments. The number of places online where merchants are listed is large. When the number of rating and review websites is added to this, the number of location online where a merchant is mentioned in some way is very large. Based on the number of online references to a merchant, it is difficult for a merchant to manage and maintain accurate information about the business—such as, for example, hours of operation, payment types accepted—on the large number of directory and listing websites. Moreover, it is difficult for merchants to monitor and respond to ratings and review provided on the large number of rating and review websites.